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60 Second Adventures in Astronomy: The Big Bang
Watch now to access more details of 60 Second Adventures in Astronomy: The Big BangDiscover how scientists have calculated the exact volume of the noise created at the birth of the Universe with this video
Level: 1 Introductory
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60 Second Adventures In Astronomy: Supernovae
Watch now to access more details of 60 Second Adventures In Astronomy: SupernovaeLearn how all the elements in the Universe were formed, and where, exactly, your favourite silver necklace comes.
Level: 1 Introductory
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60 Second Adventures In Astronomy: Exoplanets
Watch now to access more details of 60 Second Adventures In Astronomy: ExoplanetsHow have scientists studied distant stars to learn more about exoplanets, the invisible planets that orbit them?
Level: 1 Introductory
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60 Second Adventures In Astronomy: A day on Mercury
Watch now to access more details of 60 Second Adventures In Astronomy: A day on MercuryFind out how you'd pass the time on Mercury - where a single day lasts two years
Level: 1 Introductory
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60 Second Adventures In Astronomy: The rotating moon
Watch now to access more details of 60 Second Adventures In Astronomy: The rotating moonDiscover how the Moon's orbit means we always see its best side...
Level: 1 Introductory
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60 Second Adventures In Astronomy: Life on Mars
Watch now to access more details of 60 Second Adventures In Astronomy: Life on MarsDiscover how asteroids and microbes flying through space could hold the secret to life on Earth - and maybe even Mars
Level: 1 Introductory
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60 Second Adventures in Astronomy: Event horizons
Watch now to access more details of 60 Second Adventures in Astronomy: Event horizonsJust what is the point of no return? German physicist, Karl Schwarzchild calculated the event horizon of black holes. And it can tell us more about the eventual fate of all the galaxies.
Level: 1 Introductory
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60 Second Adventures in Astronomy: Dark matter
Watch now to access more details of 60 Second Adventures in Astronomy: Dark matterFritz Zwicky was a Swiss astronomer who discovered Dark Matter in the Universe. But what's the matter with dark matter?
Level: 1 Introductory
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60 Second Adventures in Astronomy: Special relativity
Watch now to access more details of 60 Second Adventures in Astronomy: Special relativityWho had more fun in life, Albert Einstein or Richard Feynman? Whichever one of them was travelling faster
Level: 1 Introductory
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60 Second Adventures in Astronomy: Large Hadron Collider
Watch now to access more details of 60 Second Adventures in Astronomy: Large Hadron ColliderTurns out the Large Hadron Collider is not as dangerous as we thought
Level: 1 Introductory
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60 Second Adventures in Astronomy: Black holes
Watch now to access more details of 60 Second Adventures in Astronomy: Black holesIs it possible to make your own black hole? DIY experts take note with this animation
Level: 1 Introductory
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60 Second Adventures in Astronomy: Taking a Galactic Census
Watch now to access more details of 60 Second Adventures in Astronomy: Taking a Galactic CensusCounting stars in the sky is easy - but how do we know how far away they are?
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60 Second Adventures in Astronomy: Gaia and the Killer Asteroids
Watch now to access more details of 60 Second Adventures in Astronomy: Gaia and the Killer AsteroidsHow does Gaia detect any dangerous Earth-crossing asteroids?
Level: 1 Introductory
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Video reviews
Desmond Carter - 16 April 2016 6:29pm
There have been several programmes recently on Television about the puzzlement experienced in scientific cosmological circles around the subject of Dark Energy.
We seem to be looking for something IN space to explain the missing matter/energy of the universe as though all matter/energy has to be housed within some container – i.e. the Space/Time of the universe – which is delivered gratuitously to us, FREE. But why is this container assumed to have to been supplied to us free of charge?
The Big Bang created time, space and matter/energy and we seem to assume that all of the matter/energy is distinct and separate from Space/Time – or that Space/Time is simply the arena in which the drama of matter/energy is played out – and that there is no necessity to view this arena as energetic in itself. And yet we know that massive bodies warp Space/Time, and that fact, of itself, seems to indicate clearly that Space/Time is, indeed, energetic.
So why are we reluctant to consider that the container of the universe, i.e. Space/Time, may not be the repository of the missing Dark Energy and that that energy is stored in the fabric of the container itself? Maybe it’s because it is too difficult to conceive of the mechanics of creating space – precisely what that means – and also of the difficulty of fitting that into our cosmology. After all there is no equation linking Space/Time to energy in quite the compelling way that Einstein linked matter to energy. And of course even if we discovered a theoretical (and subsequently practical) way to create space out of energy, it is problematic as to exactly how that space that we had created would be manifest! How would we distinguish the space that we had just created from the space that already existed?
But there is a need to explain the fabric of Space/Time, where it came from and how it is sustained. And some form of energy seems to fit the bill. And there is a massive amount of energy available to explain it in the form of the missing Dark Energy of the universe.
Add to that the observation that dark energy is ‘proportional’ to the volume of the universe and there is a very convenient fit between the needs to explain both Dark Energy and Space/Time. They sort of explain each other.
Desmond Carter - 17 April 2016 8:02am
There have been several programmes recently on Television about the puzzlement experienced in scientific cosmological circles around the subject of Dark Energy.
We seem to be looking for something IN space to explain the missing matter/energy of the universe as though all matter/energy has to be housed within some container – i.e. the Space/Time of the universe – which is delivered gratuitously to us, FREE. But why is this container assumed to have to been supplied to us free of charge?
The Big Bang created time, space and matter/energy and we seem to assume that all of the matter/energy is distinct and separate from Space/Time – or that Space/Time is simply the arena in which the drama of matter/energy is played out – and that there is no necessity to view this arena as energetic in itself. And yet we know that massive bodies warp Space/Time, and that fact, of itself, seems to indicate clearly that Space/Time is, indeed, energetic.
So why are we reluctant to consider that the container of the universe, i.e. Space/Time, may not be the repository of the missing Dark Energy and that that energy is stored in the fabric of the container itself? Maybe it’s because it is too difficult to conceive of the mechanics of creating space – precisely what that means – and also of the difficulty of fitting that into our cosmology. After all there is no equation linking Space/Time to energy in quite the compelling way that Einstein linked matter to energy. And of course even if we discovered a theoretical (and subsequently practical) way to create space out of energy, it is problematic as to exactly how that space that we had created would be manifest! How would we distinguish the space that we had just created from the space that already existed?
But there is a need to explain the fabric of Space/Time, where it came from and how it is sustained. And some form of energy seems to fit the bill. And there is a massive amount of energy available to explain it in the form of the missing Dark Energy of the universe.
Add to that the observation that dark energy is ‘proportional’ to the volume of the universe and there is a very convenient fit between the needs to explain both Dark Energy and Space/Time. They sort of explain each other.